16 Dec 2015

Christmas gift guides 2015 - gifts for men

It's my final gift guide today, and I've saved the trickiest one until last - well I find men the trickiest anyway. I love buying beauty gifts for all of my female friends and relatives, but the boys in the family can be really awkward to buy for, and very unhelpful when it comes to giving any ideas. I've gone for a nice mix of practical and fun gifts at lots of different price points, so hopefully something for everyone and no standing in long refund queues come January!

So first up, my top tip for gifts for men is aftershave. My boyfriend really likes wearing different scents, but it's the kind of thing he would never go out of his way to spend money on himself, so I always buy him fragrance as a present. My brother usually wants a new aftershave for Christmas too, so it's always an easy way to tick a present off my list! I have three scents in this gift guide, and the first is 007 Seven - it's a well timed gift for any James Bond fan who's been to see Spectre recently, and it's a lovely, universal manly scent that's both citrusy and spicy. It's also only £23.25 at Boots, so great if you're on a budget too.

I always like to mix a bit of a fun gift alongside all the practical gifts I give my male relatives at Christmas, and this Lego Batman keyring is a bit of both. It's a fun geek-chic gift for a Batman or Lego Movie fan, and it's useful as it has a mini LED torch in the bottom to help you unlock your door in the dark. My boyfriend actually moans all the time that he can't see to get the keys in the lock, so I think I've done well with this present!

Some men are still so afraid of anything remotely 'girlie' and avoid beauty and grooming products like the plague. My boyfriend's not too bad, but still takes quite a lot of coercing to even use a moisturiser! This soap, shower gel and face scrub gift set from Technic is perfect for any beauty-product-phobic guys - it's quite clearly labelled as Man'Stuff, so don't worry boys, like Yorkie, it's not for girls.

James Bond Spectre gift set
I featured this gift set a while back and thought I'd also pop it in my gift guide, as a Gillette set is always on my Christmas list for the boys every year. Razor blades are a necessity for the non-bearded bloke, and they're not cheap, so I always think it's nice to stock your guy up on his essentials, especially when they're nicely gift boxed and Bond themed like this set.

RED5 Nano Quadcopter
Boys love their toys at any age in my experience, and following the post-Christmas dinner nap in front of the telly, it's usually time to mess around with what you got for Christmas. My boyfriend and my brother always spend time on Christmas day putting things together, hunting for batteries and blatantly disregarding instructions as they get acquainted with their newest gadgets, and they'll absolutely love playing around with this nano quadcopter. They're very competitive, so I'm sure they'll be kept quiet for ages seeing who can get the hand of flying it properly first. My Mum won't be quite so pleased if one of them crashes into something, but hey, it's Christmas!

The second aftershave I have in this year's gift guide is one of the signature scents by Lacoste. I think this one's well suited to younger guys and teens as it's a trendy brand, and has the same little crocodile logo stuck onto the bottle as comes on the polo shirts. I haven't tried the other scents in this range, but Blanc is what I'd call a typical shower-fresh man smell if you see what I mean. It's quite strong, but a really clean scent. My brother will go nuts for this, and it's only £24.99 for 100ml.

Polar bear mug
This gift's very unisex (I want one myself!) but I though I'd pop it into my Men's gift guide anyway. I love this cheeky little polar bear face - it's really simple, but so cute at the same time. I think he makes a great little stocking filler gift for a guy who likes his hot drinks.

Jack Wills shirt
Maybe not such a great gift for guys you don't know really well, but for close male relatives, I always think a nice shirt is appreciated. Some men are wonderfully stylish - I just don't happen to know any of them! The guys on my list need a little bit of sartorial guidance, and I'm more than happy to provide it at Christmas with this classic Jack Wills shirt for a little smart-casual cool.

Nanoblock Stegosaurus
In my house we have 'table presents' at Christmas dinner. It's meant to be a small token present, sometimes it's jokey, and often it's some sort of toy or puzzle. I think my Mum started this tradition to keep us quiet and out of the kitchen while she was carving the turkey! I spotted these little Nanoblock sets when I was out Christmas shopping, and looked them up on Amazon as it was much cheaper than buying them in store. They're little lego-like sets of blocks to build a specific creature - this one's a dinosaur but they come in loads of different options.

Whenever I notice something my boyfriend has is starting to wear out, I make a mental note as a gift idea for Christmas. Basically I'm constantly plotting for Christmas from about August! This year I noticed his wallet had seen better days, so I decided to treat him to this leather lovely from Ted Baker. It's really well made and has that soft, buttery leather feel, and I think it looks rather swish too. Just as well my boyfriend can't be bothered to read my blog, or I'd be totally rumbled!

Hugo Boss The Scent 50ml
The third and final man-scent in this gift guide is my favourite. If you've decided you want to buy a man a fragrance for Christmas but you're not sure what he likes or what he's already tried, then a good option is to go for something brand new out, like the latest release from Hugo Boss - The Scent. The notes include ginger, manika fruit, lavender and leather - it's one seriously sexy scent, so probably best reserved as a gift for you partner, else you might give somebody the wrong impression!

Two-tone grey scarf
Along the lines again of things that men need but fail to buy for themselves - coats, scarves and gloves. Pretty much anything to do with cold weather. I know so many men who are still wandering around in November and December freezing their wotsits off because the thought hasn't occurred to them that they might need to upgrade their outerwear situation. Not all men no, but certainly my boyfriend, who even went to a fireworks display last year in just a jumper! He'll be cosy and warm this Christmas with this beautiful scarf I picked up at H&M - it'll go nicely with the lovely coat I had to buy him last Christmas...

Cards Against Humanity
Lastly, I wanted to include Cards Against Humanity as a gift idea for a male friend who's hard to buy for. As long as you're sure of their sense of humour (basically they need to be comfortable with rather risqué and sick jokes!) this can be an excellent gift. If you've never heard of it, you must look it up - it's a card game where players have to complete phrases by matching one of their cards to the one that's been played, and the more twisted and inappropriate suggestions tend to win! It's great for Christmas as it's the time of year when people are more likely to get together and play games over a few drinks, just maybe not one to bring our when your grandparents come over, or then again maybe it is, it depends on the grandparents!

That's it, the last of my gift guides for 2015 - although I do have a little extra festive-ness coming up next. I'm going to be talking all things Christmas decorations and seasonal homeware, including my fully decked out Christmas dining table - I'm giddy with the festive feels :)